I have long forgotten what I studied in school that day, and I don't know what to put in my trembling brain, anyway, I was tossed enough by the movement of Xiaohua's house in the morning.

Even later, I always wondered why I was so timid when I was a child. Anyway, no one dared to go to the toilet, and when they saw something black, they were a little frightened. I almost forgot how it happened that day, anyway, I was panicked.

I guess I was distracted during class, but because I was learning something new, I was still mentally motivated. Even so, the teacher rarely criticized me, whether I made a mistake or not.

But then I thought about it, maybe because my grades have always been good, and the teacher gives privilege to students with good grades at any time.

At that time, my homeroom teacher was not married, she was the daughter of a secretary in the next village, and she was ten years old at the time. The young teacher named Shen Xiaohua left a deep impression on me.

At that time, when the township was not particularly open, she was the first woman in the school to wear short sleeves and short skirts, not to mention the adults staring, but even the elementary school students secretly watched. In today's parlance, she was a hipster at the time.

And although her appearance feels gentle and virtuous, and it is rare that she is more than 1.65 meters, which is enough to make people unforgettable among women at that time. In fact, she is also a person who is very passionate about life, and she is also very warm and polite to others.

Originally, these stories didn't seem to have anything to do with her, but because of this teacher Shen Xiaohua, her personality influenced me for a while, and it was because in the time since then, she has had some contact with the common people in my life, so I mentioned her.

First of all, my childhood friend Xiaohua, because Xiaohua's grades have not been good, and he doesn't seem to be so smart, according to the school practice at that time, Mr. Shen suggested that Xiaohua repeat the grade.

I don't know who created the invention of repeating, but it's definitely great.

I remember that I once had a brother who was a mess academically because he was not enlightened since he was a child. He once created a miracle at school, that is, the classmate who was in the first grade with him graduated, and he was still in the first grade, which may not have been heard of by many people.

This was not unusual at the time, and although I don't know if it was Ms. Shen's decision, the notice must have been issued by her. And in September of this year, Xiaohua really repeated. His mother also went to find Teacher Shen, so Teacher Shen came to the outside compound.

But that's after the summer holidays.

The death of Xiaohua's father should have left no big impact on my childhood life and study. However, I remember that for a while after that, Xiaohua became more silent, let alone studying.

He went to school every day like me, came back and took me to pull pigweed, and then went to help her mother feed the pigs. I don't know why people had so much work to do when I was a child, but I didn't see what people did.

I feel luckier than Xiaohua, although I accompanied him to pull pigweed, but it was not for me to go at home, but purely to accompany him. His elder brother was already the main force in the family, his mother and eldest sister were assistants, and his second sister had just reached adulthood at that time, and he was responsible for a lot of odd jobs in the family.

If he didn't work, his mother would make him hungry. It's hard to imagine now, but at that time, the family was not privileged because you were the youngest, but you had to work with your family. I secretly asked him if he didn't have enough to eat, and he shook his head and didn't answer me.

However, although I was confused that day and the teacher did not publicly criticize me, Teacher Shen still asked me to go to her room, and I remember that I was still scared and sober. Who knew that I had a false alarm, and Teacher Shen asked me why Xiaohua didn't come to school.

I think I still respected the teacher very much at that time, and I muttered a little in my heart, so I didn't know how to answer for a while. Later, I held it in my throat for a long time, so I had to tell Mr. Shen what happened to Xiaohua's family.

Later, even if I didn't explain it, Mr. Shen knew the reason. Because my other partner in the compound, Hui Jiang, his father Dafeng, is a teacher in our school. What's more, Xiaowen and Xiaoan's father Yuli is also a teacher in our school.

When I got out of school, I went home with a bunch of classmates. Everyone giggled and forgot everything, but when I entered the village, I remembered it again. Sure enough, I stood on the ridge opposite the lotus pond, waiting for my mother to pick me up.

At that time, the stone path on the ridge was very smooth, because usually people from two nearby villages came here, and they all had to take this path. What I remember vividly is that there were paddy fields or ponds on both sides. The stone slabs are on the path, and on the side of the path are some small grasses that never grow.

Looking at the winding path stretching, occasionally a few people will pass by on the path, a pastoral beauty, which makes people feel very comfortable when they see it.

But no one seems to have walked past today, looking at the courtyard on the other side of the lotus pond from afar, although I didn't hear the cry, it was quiet and frightening. And where I was standing, less than 500 meters to the left was Qiu'er's house, which made me feel even more uneasy.

Even though it was broad daylight, I felt a feeling of weakness in my heart. I thought I would have to wait for a long time on the trail, so I stupidly looked at the lotus leaves in the lotus pond, and the green lotus leaves made me feel a lot more at ease. Looking at the patchwork of green lotus, it seems that I smell the smell of the partners wrapping the field chicken with lotus leaves.

The sun shines on the lotus leaves, and it seems to exude an alluring freshness. The uneasiness in my heart seemed to ease a little, and I felt much more comfortable thinking of the frolic between my classmates along the way. I even saw some lotus leaves with pheasants squatting there, as if laughing at my timidity.

I was a little depressed, but there was no way, who made me so timid.

I didn't expect my mother to see me at the gate of the compound, she should help at Xiaohua's house, which is a common practice in the township. Whichever family has a big event, whether it is a happy event, people from a place will come to help, not to mention real neighbors.

Because I was alone on the trail, it looked very dazzling. The call she made when she stood at the door avoided the sneering eyes of the lotus leaf Ueda chicken, and I was a little indignant but there was nothing I could do with it.

I didn't dare to go into the water to catch it, because it didn't take long for the thin feet thing to go, and I also had a great fear of water.

When my mother came to pick me up, I went back with me, and sure enough, I saw that the plot was full of clothes, and even a wooden bed that had been dismantled, apparently waiting to be burned. I lowered my head and didn't dare to look again, so I hurried back home.

To my surprise, my youngest aunt, Tinch, was actually at my house. She was no more than two years older than me, and she always felt like a little adult in front of me. Every time I see her, I am a little in awe, not because she is older than me and an elder, but because I wonder how she is my mother's sister?

In that era when uncles, aunts, uncles, and aunts were younger than their own juniors, this kind of thing was not unusual. Because people do not have effective self-control, as long as their bodies allow, some people are still giving birth to children as soon as they are 50 years old.

I feel weird occasionally, but I don't dwell on it. Because the people around me who are about the same age as me are all older than me, and some are two generations older. So from the time I've been sensible, I've felt like it's normal.

But what made me even more uneasy was that when my aunt heard that I didn't dare to come back because I was timid, she actually encouraged my mother to say that I should go and see Xiaohua's father's remains, so that I would be much bolder in the future.

Because there are too many cousins in the foreign family, although I am usually smart, I am not very conspicuous. In front of this aunt of about the same age, I didn't dare to refute or oppose it. I looked at my mother's excited look, and my legs immediately went limp, I had never felt so hateful about my aunt.

According to the customs of the township, it is almost impossible to pay tribute to the remains of the deceased before the funeral. It's a loved one, it's not a special situation, and the clan elders won't allow it, but I didn't know it at the time.

I was so frightened by my aunt's bad idea that I didn't have a claim, and I was still muttering in my heart, but when my aunt started talking to my mother, my grandparents were also there. They have always been very good to me, but this time they didn't refute my aunt's statement, which made me feel a little depressed.

Is it actually a way to train the courage of timid children?

I didn't dare to think about it, but I felt sweaty in my limbs.

Many people came to mourn at night, although Xiaohua's family was not wealthy, but in that era of lack of materials, the villagers did not care. As long as you prepare a domestic fat pig, some fish in the pond, and basically everything else is secondary.

What's more, Xiaohua's father is still a person who has never lived long in terms of age. The death of a person who has not lived long is, according to the villagers, a short life. To put it mildly, even if it is a short-lived ghost, it cannot enter the ancestral hall of the clan and stop the spirit.

His coffin was placed in the open space in front of the right side of the entrance of the compound, where there used to be a wing room on the left side of the same place where I lived, and I don't know when it had been removed, and there was a distance from the utility room in front of it, and now it has become a large open space.

The black tung oil wooden coffin was covered with two long wooden benches and placed under a triangular shed. It was a mourning shed made of a few thick tree trunks and a large bamboo mat. Under the wooden coffin, an ever-bright lamp is lit, and in front of it is an altar with three animals, and people are crying and crying.

In fact, Xiaohua's father is also about to pass his birthday, but some people in the clan say that if he hasn't done it, it doesn't count, and if he enters the ancestral hall, it will affect the people in the family. So, as a matter of course, Xiaohua's father's coffin could only be placed outside the ancestral hall.

In addition, because of the heat of summer, the deceased must not be able to park at home for too long, so the funeral is planned to be held tomorrow morning. The neighbors living in the compound are almost all out of the family to help. We kids don't have anyone to take care of, just don't run around.

This kind of thing is a great thing for people in the countryside. Because the old saying is good, Zhuge Liang hangs filial piety, and even his opponent Zhou Yu has to go. Even if the people in the small village usually have quarrels, they will not be hated by life and death, and the people in the clan will naturally come at night.

What's more, in this small village, almost 90% of the people have the same surname, and they are all children of their own family. When this kind of thing happened in Xiaohua's house, the first thing to invite was naturally the old man in the house. And some relatives of Xiaohua's family were naturally invited by the people sent by the compound one after another.

Neighbors like Mom are assigned to work, and she is responsible for preparing tea for the guests. I was arranged by my mother to sit in front of the steps of the compound, where she and Lotus were preparing tea and could also watch me.

Because my family lives in the main hall, right next to the first wing room on the left hand side of the main hall. The main hall of the compound was so crowded that I couldn't sleep at all. I watched the crowds of guests like watching a play, and with all kinds of mourning and music next to me, the whole person was not so afraid.

After all, I usually like to listen to stories, so I don't know when, so I secretly got in front of a group of clan elders. Because of these old people, you can often listen to them talk about the past of the family. Who knew that I actually heard a secret history, and it was related to the death of Xiaohua's father.

Xiaohua's father's name, because the seniority is too high, I disappeared. However, it is said that his life in this life was to pay off his father's debts. His father was also a man of the hour, and he was the descendant of a wealthy businessman.

And these rumors are not enough to express the legendary experience of this predecessor. Because he was once called Qian Signboard by Shili Baxiang, this nickname is said to be related to the magic of his person. Because in the pre-liberation years, he was still a famous sailor.